Hudson Valley Iris Show

Hi All,

I know my inexperience is going to show here but I have to share this 
happiness with all of you.  Our brand new club, The Hudson Valley Iris & 
Daylily Society had our very first iris show today.  It was totally fun! 
 I am still high from it, I hope this excitement lasts for at least a 
week! Since collectively we had nearly no experience with iris shows, 
and yours truly had never even been to one, we felt kind of intimidated 
by the prospect of putting on an event like this and calling it a show. 
 Therefore we did not have it formally judged, but Dave Nitka was good 
enough to drive over from Mass. this morning and critique every one of 
our "entries".  He pointed out was was good and what was bad in each one 
our flowers.  In this way our members got two hours of judges training 
and in my opinion, it was excellent.  I feel like I learned a lot about 
how to look at an iris on the bench. And next year when we have our 
first accredited show we will feel a lot more confident about it.  

Queen of the show went to PETITE MONET grown by Mickey Koschara.  We had 
only two named tall bearded irises, DANCE REVUE won the popularity poll. 
TB's are popular with the public because they are such attention 
grabbers.  Our show was in a garden center and we had a steady stream of 
traffic all afternoon long.  I think we generated a lot of interest and 
I hope to see some of the people back at our sale in August.  We made up 
coupons for free irises and  we hope they will come and claim them. I am 
hopeful that this show will generate growth for our club.  So many 
people came in with iris stories to tell.  On man left the show for a 
few minutes, then returned with photos of his garden and his irises and 
I could tell that he really loved them.  

So what was so great about this day?  I loved seeing all those irises 
gathered in one place, and I loved spending the whole day  talking 
irises and being with this great group of people.  Like Rima, I saw a 
lot of new things that I will try to grow.  But the best part for me was 
the comaraderie.  I envy all of you going to Dearborn.  

Christine Feger
Fishkill, New York
Zone 5
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